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#11
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle Z
TKalbfus wrote: How about a nuclear upper stage?, this would reduce the propellant requirement. More mass can then be devoted to the lander. *The* lander? Are we doing Apollo again? |
#12
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle Z
(TKalbfus) wrote:
So what will it be. Do we build new Saturn Vs, Magnum rockets, Ares launchers, or Shuttle Zs? Why not start from first principles and determine if LOR, EOR, or something else entirely is the most logical methodology for the planned mission, available resources, and probable constraints? We went with the S-V last time because it was cheap and easy, not because it made sense. D. -- The STS-107 Columbia Loss FAQ can be found at the following URLs: Text-Only Version: http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html Enhanced HTML Version: http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html Corrections, comments, and additions should be e-mailed to , as well as posted to sci.space.history and sci.space.shuttle for discussion. |
#13
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle Z
"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
... (TKalbfus) wrote: So what will it be. Do we build new Saturn Vs, Magnum rockets, Ares launchers, or Shuttle Zs? Why not start from first principles and determine if LOR, EOR, or something else entirely is the most logical methodology for the planned mission, available resources, and probable constraints? That's what this newsgroup is for. Stopping halfway involves overhead and we would need big boosters to put something at the halfway point. We went with the S-V last time because it was cheap and easy, not because it made sense. Doesn't cheap and easy make sense? |
#14
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, ShuttleZ
Mike Rhino wrote:
"Derek Lyons" wrote in message ... (TKalbfus) wrote: So what will it be. Do we build new Saturn Vs, Magnum rockets, Ares launchers, or Shuttle Zs? Why not start from first principles and determine if LOR, EOR, or something else entirely is the most logical methodology for the planned mission, available resources, and probable constraints? That's what this newsgroup is for. Stopping halfway involves overhead and we would need big boosters to put something at the halfway point. We went with the S-V last time because it was cheap and easy, not because it made sense. Doesn't cheap and easy make sense? Back in 1962, there were essentially no viable launchers for payload of the sizes we needed, even for EOR. So, if you are designing a vehicle at that point, do you build one small or large? There is essentially very little difference in the design time for developing either launcher, but the smaller launcher would also require and R&D program for assembly in orbit. Cheap and easy meant the fewest developmental steps. These days, that means concentrating effort on payload, not launcher technology. |
#15
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle
TKalbfus wrote:
None of the above. A launcher in the 25,000kg payload to LEO and then design around Earth Orbit Rendevous. Or how about standing up 4 of these launchers side by side on the launch pad and lash them together so they can lift a 100 tone payload to orbit? That is an extra development layer. Not really that necessary. Earth orbit rendevous means lingering in orbit for a while exposed to space junk while your waiting to get the other pieces up. You have to put pieces A, B, C, and D together. What if there is something wrong with piece B, that only becomes apparent once it reaches orbit? A, C, and D are just fine, so they wait in orbit, getting exposed to more space junk while a replacement for be is assembled and another launcher is built to launch it. The comes the process of assembly. Umm. Assembly is just for the transfer vehicles. Everything going to the moon for the moon is nothing but payload until it reaches the moon. The transfer vehicle can be assembled with only a few flights. The main thing is that the transfer vehicle be reusable which means fewer flights than with a system using one-launcher per trip to the moon. There is very little reason for a direct throw to the Moon if you can cut down the expenses of getting to LEO. Send the astroworkers into orbit, these people aren't going to the moon, their task is to assemble the moonship. They better have brought all the tools their going to need. The process needs to be carefully choriographed in swimming pools with mockups. The Lunar geologists await on Earth while the mission of assemble goes on. The mission in this case begins with assembly rather than a launch. You're making the implicit assumption that they would assemle every flight separately. They only assemble transfer vehicles. After that, they are switching to a system that switches payload from the launcher from Earth to a transfer vehicle heading to the moon. |
#16
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle
"Charles Buckley" wrote in message
... TKalbfus wrote: None of the above. A launcher in the 25,000kg payload to LEO and then design around Earth Orbit Rendevous. Or how about standing up 4 of these launchers side by side on the launch pad and lash them together so they can lift a 100 tone payload to orbit? That is an extra development layer. Not really that necessary. Earth orbit rendevous means lingering in orbit for a while exposed to space junk while your waiting to get the other pieces up. You have to put pieces A, B, C, and D together. What if there is something wrong with piece B, that only becomes apparent once it reaches orbit? A, C, and D are just fine, so they wait in orbit, getting exposed to more space junk while a replacement for be is assembled and another launcher is built to launch it. The comes the process of assembly. Umm. Assembly is just for the transfer vehicles. Everything going to the moon for the moon is nothing but payload until it reaches the moon. The transfer vehicle can be assembled with only a few flights. The main thing is that the transfer vehicle be reusable which means fewer flights than with a system using one-launcher per trip to the moon. There is very little reason for a direct throw to the Moon if you can cut down the expenses of getting to LEO. Does a transfer vehicle fly in a figure 8 orbit or does it expend fuel to get from LEO to the moon, expend more fuel to slow down to lunar orbital speed, expend more fuel to reach Earth, and then expend fuel to slow down to LEO orbital speed? Is that more efficient? An expendable ship can use air braking, but a reusable transfer vehicle can't. Does a transfer vehicle land on the moon? In order to reach LEO, astronauts would have to be in something. Why not send that something all the way to the moon? You may be advocating developing OSP and then going to the moon with that. I'm advocating not developing OSP and instead developing something that flies straight to the moon. If the plan is to send many astronauts to LEO orbit and 2 to the moon, then the OSP route is more efficient. My plan is the opposite of that. I would like to concentrate on the moon and pretty much abandon LEO. If a lunar program is more than flags and footprints, then the cost of developing a new booster should be trivial. It is possible launch fuel into orbit and use it to refuel a ship. It is also possible to launch fuel with the ship. Either way, you have to launch fuel. Would one way be more efficient than the other? |
#17
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle
All this is not going to happen. What is needed is a completely new
concept to get to the Moon. Why, the object is to get to the Moon, not to revolutionize space travel. We already know how to get to the Moon. We have the plans for the Saturn V. The fastest way to get their is to tread on well trod ground. Assembling things ins space takes a long time. Just look at the ISS. EVA time is at a premium, and its better to spend it on the Moon rather than building things in space. Tom |
#18
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle
"TKalbfus" wrote in message ... All this is not going to happen. What is needed is a completely new concept to get to the Moon. Why, the object is to get to the Moon, not to revolutionize space travel. We already know how to get to the Moon. We have the plans for the Saturn V. The fastest way to get their is to tread on well trod ground. Assembling things ins space takes a long time. Just look at the ISS. EVA time is at a premium, and its better to spend it on the Moon rather than building things in space. Tom As far as the plans for the Saturn V go, does NASA actually have them? I heard a story a few years back that NASA doesn't actually have a complete set. At the time the Saturn V rockets were designed and built, some of the details weren't on paper but rather were in the heads of the designers and builders. Even if all of the physical drawings exist, I wonder if there weren't special assembly procedures that are undocumented. My guess is that if NASA goes back to the moon, it'll take at least as much time and 2-3 times as much money (even corrected for inflation) as it did the first time. NASA's human spaceflight program has concentrated on low earth orbit for so long and many of the leading brains of the Apollo-era are gone. I don't think that the shuttle is feasible for a moon mission (unless you're using it to support a staging point in LEO) and for reasons above I wonder if NASA could build the Saturn V without a major re-learning effort. I think it needs to be a joint mission with other countries and that we should look at some of the Russian heavy lift capabilities, perhaps even mixing and matching platforms depending on what needs to be lifted where and when. Another way to look at is to define the lift requirements in top-down fashion, i.e., instead of saying "we've got X heavy-lift platforms, how can we use them?" say "this is what's needed, do any of the platforms meet the requirements?". -mc |
#19
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle
Mike Rhino wrote:
"Charles Buckley" wrote in message ... TKalbfus wrote: None of the above. A launcher in the 25,000kg payload to LEO and then design around Earth Orbit Rendevous. Or how about standing up 4 of these launchers side by side on the launch pad and lash them together so they can lift a 100 tone payload to orbit? That is an extra development layer. Not really that necessary. Earth orbit rendevous means lingering in orbit for a while exposed to space junk while your waiting to get the other pieces up. You have to put pieces A, B, C, and D together. What if there is something wrong with piece B, that only becomes apparent once it reaches orbit? A, C, and D are just fine, so they wait in orbit, getting exposed to more space junk while a replacement for be is assembled and another launcher is built to launch it. The comes the process of assembly. Umm. Assembly is just for the transfer vehicles. Everything going to the moon for the moon is nothing but payload until it reaches the moon. The transfer vehicle can be assembled with only a few flights. The main thing is that the transfer vehicle be reusable which means fewer flights than with a system using one-launcher per trip to the moon. There is very little reason for a direct throw to the Moon if you can cut down the expenses of getting to LEO. Does a transfer vehicle fly in a figure 8 orbit or does it expend fuel to get from LEO to the moon, expend more fuel to slow down to lunar orbital speed, expend more fuel to reach Earth, and then expend fuel to slow down to LEO orbital speed? Is that more efficient? An expendable ship can use air braking, but a reusable transfer vehicle can't. Does a transfer vehicle land on the moon? In order to reach LEO, astronauts would have to be in something. Why not send that something all the way to the moon? What makes you think a reusable can't use aerobraking? If you build something that goes from the Earth to the Moon in oneshot, then you have to build a vehicle that is operational in all phases. So, the vehicle travelling between the Earth and the Moon would have to include all the aerodynamic pieces. For 99.9% of it's time, it would be somewhere where is it lifting a lot of deadweight. That is a lot less efficient fuelwise than designing against the specific flight regimes. You may be advocating developing OSP and then going to the moon with that. I'm advocating not developing OSP and instead developing something that flies straight to the moon. If the plan is to send many astronauts to LEO orbit and 2 to the moon, then the OSP route is more efficient. My plan is the opposite of that. I would like to concentrate on the moon and pretty much abandon LEO. If a lunar program is more than flags and footprints, then the cost of developing a new booster should be trivial. Who said anything about OSP? OSP is just a specific vehicle. The Moon program is a program. The program uses the specific tools available. The question is whether it can do it's tasks with existing launchers and capabilities. There is nothing inherent in going to the Moon, or any other body, the dictates an HLV of Saturn capacity. It is possible launch fuel into orbit and use it to refuel a ship. It is also possible to launch fuel with the ship. Either way, you have to launch fuel. Would one way be more efficient than the other? The one that moves the least deadweight over the flight regime. It will take far more fuel to move all the aerodynamic materials to and from the Moon than concentrating on the specific radically different flight regimes. Can you think of a reason that somethign travelling from LEO to the Moon would require a parachute? Or aerodynamic control surfaces? Why factor that weight into something that does not need it? |
#20
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Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle Z
We went with the S-V last time because it was cheap and easy, not
because it made sense. Cheap and easy are what get the mission accomplished. Expensive and hard may lead to an abandoned project. The ISS is an example of the opposite of the Apollo program. Tom |
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